The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1887-09-21
the BAXTER MEMORIAL.
Description Of the Ceremonies OF
Laying the Corner Stone.
Addresses Delivered by Judge Sy-
monds and Cen. Brown.

cornerstone OF the new Baxter Memorial
Building, on Congress street, took place yes
terday afternoon. The day was perfect. A
lovelier could not have been selected for the
occasion. The turf was still bright green,
the foliage had only just begun to show the
touches of autumn, and the skies were
cloudless expanse of blue.
At $50 p. M, the Masonic bodies left the
armory on Exchange street, for the building,
in the following order:
Chambers Band
Portland Commaadery-Em. Com. Sir Knight j.
4. Sawyer-7 officers and 80 Sir Knights.
St Alban Commandery-Em. Com: Sir Knight b.
b. FarnSworcll--6 officers and 30 Sir Knights.
The Grand Lodge of Maine.
The Grand Lodge was represented by
Grand Master +. e. Sleeper, Sabattis; Dep
uty Grand Master, Albro E. Chase, Port
land; Acting Senior Grand Warden, f. L.
Day, Lewiston; Acting Junior Grand War
den, C. ID. Smith, Portland; Acting Grand
Treasurer, w. o. Carney, Portland; Grand
Secretary, Ira Berry, Portland; Grand Chap
lain, Rev. Marion Crosley, Portland; Grand
Marshal, A. M. Roak, Auburn; Acting
Grand Senior Deacon, e. w. Harding, Dur
ham; Acting Grand Junior Deacon, w. f
Wood. Lewiston; Acting Grand Stewards
Simeon Stone, Lisbon, and W. r. Tarbox.
Fryeburg; Grand Tyler, w. c. G. Carney.
Portland.
The procession presented fine appear
ance, with Its beautiful regalia, its waving
white plumes, and its gaily painted banners.
The streets were filed with people, who
gazed on the pageant with much interest,
while many followed the line of march. The
building was reached shortly after y. M,
the hour appointed A rude staging had
been erected close by the corner stone,
which was intended for the use of the gen.
tlemen, members of the Maine Historical So
ciety and Portland Public Library, the two
institutions to whom the building is to be de-
lice the place, and not only the
staging, but every place of vantage
was occupied by citizens without
distinction, including many boys and
girls. On the opposite side of the street, the
double row of steps to Plymouth church, and
the windows, doorsteps and sidewalks of
private residences, were black with heads
Carriages of every kind got in the way, but,
as is usual in Portland, all was taken good
naturally. Upon arrival the two comman-
deries halted, facing each other, on either
side of the street, and the officers of the
Grand Lodge passed between them to their
places on the platform, the Communicates
saluting. and the band playing.
On the staging, besides the trustees and
officers of the Public Library, several of the
ex-Mayors of Portland, and many Of the
leading lawyers and business men, were no.
ticed Hon. William Goold, Rev. DIR. Asa
Dalton, Rev. DIR. III. s. Burrage, Henry
Deering, Lewis Pierce, HI. w. Richardson,
Edward III. Elwell, James p. Baxter-the
munilcent donor of the memorial--Hon.
Charles F. Libby, P. c. Manning, Judge
Goddard. Stephen Berry and H, w. Bryant,
all members of the Historical Society.
When all was ready Grand Master Sleeper
gave the signal and Chandler's Band played
with great feeling and effect the prayer from
'sMedea." Judge Symonds then, in behalf
of the Public Library, of which he is presi-
dent, advanced and spoke as follows:
JUDGE sYMoNDs' ADDRESS.
Most WorshipfuI Grand Master:
The Portland Institute and Public Libra
ry, which by the munifcence of the founder
is to share in the permanent occupancy of
the building here to be erected. joins in the
request that its cornerstone should be laid
and its dedication to the uses of a public
trust should be COMMUNICATED, by the an
cient forms Of Masonic ceremony; and
now have the honor in its name and behalf
to make this request of you.
has been said, is essentially an ideal and in
visible thing. 1t does not lie open to the
sight in the familiar walls and towers, built
by human hands, but can only be discerned
and apprehended by the mental vision, in the
spirit of its history in the law of its life in the
essential idea which informs and inspires it,
1t is the true church militant of knowledge,
and its champions are the men, who along
the line of its history have gathered and re-
Elected upon the world all the light of their
times. Its arm0ries are piled and mar
shalled in human memories the flashing Of
new truths to meet the shifting forms of err
ror Is the only sign of its advance, while all
its triumphs are of the intellect, of the heart,
of the energies of the WILL.
The spirit of all this Is equally true of the
library; for what, after ALI, are libraries,
galleries and treasures of art and antiquity,
but the implements and accessories of
thoughtful study?
Our fathers, in their poverty, planted the
school and the college, and founded, with
equal care and with almost eqnal reverence,
the library and the church; and it remains
part of the priceless honor which, in our
minds, forever surrounds their memories,
that In the early days of suffering and dan
ger. on the margin, the narrow margin.
guarded by their lives, and guarded only by
their lives, between the wilderness and the
sea, they sowed thatprecious seed. From it,
like golden grain, las sprung the glory of
New England life, the love of learning, the
thought and life, which have been the dis
tinguishing trait Of our society for genera
items, now; which have opened to the in
trepid footsteps of youth, at once, all the
paths of usefulness and all the fields of hon.
or; which, to manhood, have given strength
and exaltation above the engrossing cares of
daily life; which have refined, and hallowed,
and given serenity and dignity to old age,
and have poured, and are still pouring, a
strange, new light upon all the problems of
life.
From the height on which we stand today,
in the midst of the Frightening auspices
which surround us, it is pleasant to remem-
Der even the hardships Of the past Our
minds recur., to the summer of 1866, when
our. public libraries disappeared in single
night and their loss was not even felt in the
general grief and the sharp distress of that
cruel confiagration, when the relief of imme-
date suffering demanded every energy, and
our city grieved more over the destruction of
its stately elms and the loss of historic asso-
Citations than over buildings or libraries
which could be restored; to the meetings of
citizens which framed the charter for the
new library, its organization, its small be-
ginning and slow progress, the little rills of
assistance from many sources which year by
year have swelled the stream, the larger
gifts of other friends, the steady hand of
encouragement and aid which our City Coun-
Gil has always extended, the constant effort
to enlarge the resources of the library and to
make it free as possible to the public with
the means at its command. for few persons
whose attention has not been par
ticularly directed to the subject can
appreciate the difficulty of making a IL
brary public, the imposslbility of making it
wholly free, without fund to sustain it.
the accession Of the Willis collection, OF
great value in itself and which associates
with the public library the Willis name,
identified with the history and fame of our
city, the increasing prosperity of later years,
the accumulation Of library OF more than
thirty thousand volumes now, which we
hope before long will contain one hundred
thousand of the best books of all time. In
any review Of the past, however brief, the
public library remembers with gratitude the
names of its benefactors. There are names
among them memorable for many public SER
vices While this is not the occasion to re-
peat them, no retrospect could be so hurried
as not to note the name of Nathaniel G.
Sawyer, who gave the largest part of his es-
tate-several thousands of dollars-to the
library with the single Injunction that the
fund should be preserved and its income
devoted to the purchase of works of perma-
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